Welcome to Under the Radar Fight Results, the weekly column in which I go over all meaningful bouts not otherwise covered in separate write ups. This week we have a world title being won and some pretty prominent names to go along with it in other fights.
Saturday, August 4th
Jonathan Oquendo (28-5, 18 KOs) TKO2 Daulis Prescott (32-8, 24 KOs), junior lightweights & Magdiel Cotto (10-0, 7 KOs) SD8 Carlos Garcia (15-19-1, 12 KOs), middleweights – San Juan, Puerto Rico
Miguel Cotto promoted long time fringe contender Jonathan Oquendo picked up his first win of 2018 against former title challenger turned journeyman Daulis Prescott. It isn’t a notable win, but he was back in the ring at least. Oquendo’s losses beyond an early career disqualification have come to the likes of Juan Manuel Lopez, Wilfredo Vasquez Jr, Abner Mares, and Jesus Cuellar, so he only loses against guys with at least some world level ability. It is Oquendo’s 2015 upset win over Jhonny Gonzalez that keeps him near contention and in the conversation. Magdiel Cotto, no relation to former star and now his promoter Miguel Cotto, was a prospect featured on an ESPN card earlier this year. He scored a quick KO and looked impressive, but he’s only been narrowly winning decisions against fighters with losing records since so we can probably write him off as an actual prospect now.
Kerman Lejarraga (26-0, 21 KOs) TKO6 Johnny Navarrete (31-14-2, 13 KOs), welterweights – Spain
26 year old rat tail wielding, power punching Spanish welterweight Kerman Lejarraga is probably the best young welterweight in Europe. This was a stay busy, record building fight against tough but simple Mexican journeyman Johnny Navarrete. Navarrete usually goes the distance rather than being stopped, once even making it ten rounds against Jaimie Munguia, but he’s wearing down a bit and Lejarraga got to him here. Kerman can punch and has some ability. Last time out he really announced himself as the class of Europe in the division by easily dominating a skilled boxer in Bradley Skeete of the UK, flattening him inside two rounds. Next up is mostly failed former major British prospect Frankie Gavin. That won’t end well for Frankie. I don’t know if Lejarraga can compete at the very top of the division as few can, but I think he’d do quite well against that Andre Berto-Luis Collazo sort of level that we also saw on Saturday.
Joe Cordina (8-0, 6 KOs) UD12 Sean Dodd (15-4-1, 3 KOs), lightweights & Daniyar Yeleussinov (3-0, 1 KO) PTS6 Gabor Gorbics (24-12, 14 KOs), welterweights & Gamal Yafai (15-1, 8 KOs) TKO3 Jose Aguilar (16-51-4, 6 KOs), featherweights – Cardiff, Wales
Joe Cordina cleanly passed his first real test here, a nice little step up to British level against Sean Dodd. It was a competitive fight with cards that were probably a little too wide, but Cordina unquestionably deserved the win. I thought it was a little disappointing to see him win by decision when Dodd had been stopped in all his losses previously though. Still, it is hard to fault Cordina too much as Dodd has been operating on a solid domestic level for a while while the 2016 Olympian had only fought club fighters previously. An even bigger potential prospect than Cordina is Kazakh Olympic gold medalist Daniyar Yeleussinov and he picked up his third win here. It was a dominant performance, though Yeleussinov does seem like he hasn’t found that extra pro gear yet when watching him work. Finally, Gamal Yafai, brother to super flyweight titleholder Khalid Yafai, returned from his first loss in about as soft as it gets here against a 50 loss opponent. Gamal was considered a real super bantamweight prospect, but his loss in March to Gavin McDonnell was shockingly one sided.
Denis Douglin (21-6, 13 KOs) UD10 Vaughn Alexander (12-1, 8 KOs), super middleweights & Bakhram Murtazaliev (13-0, 11 KOs) KO1 Fernando Carcamo (23-9, 18 KOs), junior middleweights & Madiyar Ashkeyev (10-0, 6 KOS) TKO4 Eduardo Flores (26-30, 4 KOs), junior middleweights & Meiirim Nursultanov (8-0, 7 KOs) RTD2 Jonathan Batista (17-15, 10 KOs), middleweights – Atlantic City, New Jersey
This was the pre-HBO action in Atlantic City supporting Kovalev and Alvarez. In the main bout of the four here, Denis Douglin pulled off what was reportedly a surprisingly easy decision win over Vaughn Alexander. This was scored a near shut out officially too, so everyone seems to agree. I unfortunately do not have video on the fight, but it is controversy free by all accounts. This is not the result I would have expected. Vaughn Alexander, brother to former two division titleholder Devon Alexander, was once a major prospect, but an armed robbery and assault sentence took his prospect years. Vaughn went about 12 years between fights before returning for his last seven bouts. I would have thought he’d have enough at least to not be completely dominated by a pure gate keeper like Douglin, but I guess not. Also in action were three of Main Event’s Eastern European prospects. By all accounts Meiirim Nursultanov seems to be the most respected out of the trio. I haven’t had enough video to form a strong opinion on any of them personally yet though.
Marcus Browne (22-0, 16 KOs) UD10 Lenin Castillo (18-2-1, 13 KOs), light heavyweights & Luis Collazo (38-7, 20 KOs) MD10 Bryant Perrella (15-2, 13 KOs), welterweights & Richard Commey (27-2, 24 KOs) TKO2 Yardley Cruz (24-11, 14 KOs), lightweights & Brandon Figueroa (16-0, 11 KOs) TKO1 Luis Cruz (13-1, 8 KOs), super bantamweights & Gary Antuanne Russell (7-0, 7 KOs) TKO1 Jose Arturo Esquivel (10-8, 2 KOs), junior welterweights – Uniondale, New York
The bulk of these fights made PBC’s Fox Sports 2 prelim broadcast. In the main bout of that secondary show, top light heavyweight contender and US Olympian Marcus Browne picked up an almost routine win to stay busy. He did get hurt and dropped in the fifth, but Castillo was too timid to really press the advantage. Browne, who was originally supposed to face Sergey Kovalev on HBO but was replaced after some domestic violence accusations surfaced, otherwise controlled the rest of the fight. Longtime welterweight contender Luis Collazo earned a majority decision over Bryant Perrella that should have been unanimous in the co-feature while top lightweight and IBF mandatory Richard Commey punched out a quick win while waiting for his next title opportunity. Commey probably has more to offer of the two at this point as Collazo is 37, but the Puerto Rican has looked good now two fights in a row against at least mid-level opposition. Finally, a pair of prospects with famous brothers also picked up wins. Brandon is Omar Figueroa’s brother while Gary Antuanne Russell is brother to the featherweight titleholder of the same name. Of the two, Russell is the one to really pay attention to. I see him as a can’t miss guy in the division. He has a good skillset and tremendous physical ability. This 25 second body shot knockout did nothing to dissuade me of the notion either. At 22, time is on his side as well.
Friday, August 3rd
Tevin Farmer (26-4-1, 5 KOs) UD12 Billy Dib (43-5, 24 KOs), IBF junior lightweight title & Tim Tszyu (10-0, 8 KOs) KO1 Stevie Ferdinandus (27-16-1, 14 KOs), junior middleweights & Brock Jarvis (14-0, 13 KOs) KO1 Yotchanchai Yakaeo (26-12, 21 KOs), bantamweights – Sydney, Australia
Tevin Farmer finally has his belt. In December Farmer seemed to comfortably outpoint durable Japanese contender Kenichi Ogawa, but he didn’t get the decision thanks to some rather incompetent judging. To make matters worse, Ogawa failed a post-fight drug test too. This at least took the loss of Farmer’s record, rendering it a no contest instead. Here he comfortably dominated weak former featherweight titleholder Billy Dib on ESPN+. This time he got the decision he earned. What a ride it has been for Farmer too. He started his career as a complete club level fighter by going 7-4-1 in his first twelve, but nineteen straight wins have gotten him where he is today. On top of that, just a year ago Tevin was literally shot through his right hand when trying to break up an altercation at a party involving some of his family. Few have overcome more than the Philly fighter to get to the world title level. Two young early stage Australian prospects were also in action, both scoring first round wins. Tim Tszyu, son of legendary Kostya Tszyu, was someone I was naturally skeptical of at first, but I must admit that he is a sharp young fighter with nice reflexes. Unfortunately, however, he didn’t have an opponent here. Indonesian fighter Stevie Ferdinandus pretty blatantly just decided he wanted out of this fight about a minute in by going down on nothing and staying down for the count. It was a bad look. 20 year old Jeff Fenech trained Brock Jarvis won nearly as quickly, but he at least landed punches to do it. Both young men are clearly going to rise to the top of the Australian scene over the next few years and both clearly have some world level potential as well.
Humberto Soto (68-9-2, 37 KOs) UD10 Edgar Puerta (25-11-1, 19 KOs), junior welterweights – Ensenada, Mexico
Take a look at who snuck in his second fight of the year back home in Mexico. Former two division titleholder Humberto Soto is now 21 years into his career at age 38, but it looks like he wants to make one last run. He was on a pretty good one back in 2014 when he beat Juan Carlos Abreu and John Molina Jr before meeting Antonio Orozco on HBO. That was a close fight that I thought could have went either way, but instead some ridiculously wide cards came in for the house fighter. Soto basically vanished after that night so I figured he was done given his age. Apparently not. I don’t know what the skilled Mexican can offer any real junior welterweight at 38, but he’d be a hell of a test for a brave promoter to put in with a real prospect.
Ladarius Miller (17-1, 5 KOs) UD10 Dennis Galarza (16-4, 9 KOs), lightweights & Juan Heraldez (14-0, 8 KOs) UD10 Kevin Watts (12-3, 5 KOs), junior welterweights & Sharif Bogere (32-1, 20 KOs) UD10 Oscar Bravo (22-8, 10 KOs), junior welterweights & Omar Douglas (19-2, 13 KOs) UD8 Lydell Rhodes (26-3-1, 12 KOs), lightweights – Las Vegas, Nevada
This PBC on Bounce card is a thing that happened on Friday night. Middling PBC prospect Ladarius Miller picked up a decent but dull step up win over gate keeper Dennis Galarza in the main event. This one was hard to watch early, but it got better after Miller hurt Galarza in the sixth. Juan Heraldez is a better prospect in my view. He opened the show against Kevin Watts and dominated including a first round knockdown. He was able to coast down the stretch. Fringe contenders Sharif Bogere and Omar Douglas also picked up wins against low level competition. PBC probably needs more cards like this to keep the mid and lower tiers of their roster moving, but hopefully they can come up with some matchmaking that leads to better fights on them in the future.
